Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest - 1980

For the 25th Eurovision Song Contest, the Swedish entry was chosen in the national selection Melodifestivalen 1980. The Swedish Final was held on March 8th at the SVT TV Studios in Stockholm, hosted by Bengt Bedrup. The winning song was chosen by the votes of 11 regional juries. Tomas Ledin won with the song Just nu!, which he had written himself.

Tomas Folke Jonas Ledin (born 25 February 1952, in Rätan, Sweden) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He grew up in the town of Sandviken.

Tomas Ledin started his career in 1972 when his first single, Då ska jag spela, was a big hit. Other successful songs followed: Blå, blå känslor (1973), Knivhuggarrock" (1975), Festen har börjat (1976), and I natt är jag din (1977). At the beginning of the 70s, Ledin was influenced by hippie fashion and demonstrated against the Vietnam war. He also took part in a Swedish stage production of the musical Gospell in 1975 and performed in 140 concerts in the Swedish folkparks in 1977.

In 1979, ABBA member Benny Andersson offered him a chance to record for the group's company Polar Music. The singer joined ABBA on their 1979-1980 tour as a backing vocalist, but also got the opportunity to sing his own composition Not Bad at All during the show. Tomas Ledin also appeared on the ABBA Live DVD and on the Super Trouper Video.

He won the Swedish Melodifestivalen in 1980 and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest that year with Just nu!. The song was a big hit in Scandinavia, but also in Greece and Portugal since Ledin recorded an English version, Right Now!.

In 1982, he released the duet Never Again with Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA. The song reached number one in Chile (in its Spanish version Ya nunca más) and was popular across Europe. Ledin also composed Take Good Care of Your Children, which Agnetha Fältskog released in 1983 on her album Wrap Your Arms Around Me. Another composition by the singer, I Got Something, was released by Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA on her album Something's Going On.

In the 80s, Ledin was very successful in Scandinavia but his career abroad failed to reach the same level. He nevertheless toured Germany and the Netherlands on a small scale in 1982, and the following year, he played in front of 60,000 people at the Olympic stadium in Berlin, in a show with other international acts.

He decided to put an end to his career in 1984 and started to act as a producer for Record Station, his wife's record company. He discovered other singers and successfully produced artists such as Pugh Rogefeldt and Magnus Uggla. In 1985, he organized a concert for ANC featuring several Swedish artists.

Three years later, Tomas Ledin started to compose again and wrote songs in English. The album Down on the Pleasure Avenue was released but was not successful. Ledin was very disappointed but started to compose again, in Swedish this time. He started to enjoy success again in 1990 when he released a compilation and a new album, Tillfälligheternas spel, and has been one of the best selling artists in Sweden since then.

In 2000, 260,000 copies of his compilation album Festen har börjat were sold in Sweden, which meant he was awarded three platinum records there. The same year he was also awarded a gold record in Finland for the first time. In 2002, he went on the biggest tour ever planned in Scandinavia and performed in 27 shows in Sweden and 8 shows in the rest of Scandinavia. More than 250,000 people saw this show in Northern Europe.

He has been married since 1983 to record company president Marie Ledin, daughter of Stig Anderson.